The Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the National Assembly on Wednesday approved a bill proposing amendments to the Election Act 2017 seemingly barring elected assembly members from changing their party affiliation.
The amendments to the bill propose that those individuals who contested elections as independent members cannot change their “affidavit” later to change their party affiliation, apparently bypassing the recent Supreme Court verdict in the case of the reserved seats.
It also proposed that if political parties fail to submit their candidates’ list for reserved seats in the stipulated time by the Election Commission of Pakistan, then it won’t be eligible for those seats.
The bill was passed by the panel with eight votes in favour while four opposed it.
Meanwhile, federal law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar stated that the issue of “reserved seats” and independent members joining any political party is obvious.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Ali Muhammad Khan said that this is a private member’s bill and the law minister shouldn’t advocate for it.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Bilal Azhar Kiyani tabled the bill on Tuesday. The amendments were proposed to Section 66 and Section 104 of the Election Act, 2017.
